The first general ordinance for the sale of the national domain was passed in 1785. Among other things it provided for the rec tangular system of surveying, which has been followed ever since. Until 1800 the land was sold only in large tracts, 640 acres being the smallest unit. During the next 20 years (1801 20) the smallest unit was 160 acres and the lowest price was $2 per acre. From 1821 to 1840 the lowest price was $125 per acre and 40 acres was the smallest unit. In 1841 was passed the first general pre-emption act. This withdrew public lands from sale to the general public, reserving them for sale to actual set tlers. These were allowed to purchased limited areas, upon which they had actually settled, at the uniform price of $1.25 per acre. The final stage of the transition was reached in the Homestead Acts of 1862 and 1864. Under these acts the actual settler who lived on his land and cultivated it for a period of years was given a tract not exceeding 160 acres without money and without price. There have been several supplementary acts, such as the Timber Culture Act, the Desert Land Act, all designed to make it easy for the landless man to become a proprietor.
The beginnings of this public land policy form by far the most important phase of our national history during the period we are now studying. With it began the real history of the Great West. Getting the people on to the land, bringing the land under subjection, laying the foundations of a future civilization, are the most fundamental and far-reaching enter prises of any government In 1793 the saw gin for separating the seed from the cotton was invented. This followed a remarkable series of inventions for the manu facture of cotton cloth which had created a great demand for cotton. The cotton ginen abled the Southern States to supply that de mand and greatly stimulated the growing of cotton. Cotton therefore soon rose to first place among the products of the South, super seding tobacco as the main crop. An unfone nate result was to give a new lease of life to slavery, which was beginning to be unpopular even in the South.
The beginnings of an improved live stock industry were made during this period. The famous sire of American trotting horses, °Messenger,* was imported from England is 1788. The great *Justin Morgan,* the sire of the Morgan breed, was foaled about. the sane time, probably in 1789. George Washingtes began the breeding of mules of a supenci quality, having received two fine jacks ? presents from Lafayette and the King of Span Several importations of cattle for breedan purposes, particularly of the Shorthorn ac: Hereford breeds, were made about this time Merino sheep in considerable numbers wee imported from Spain. There had been restrr tions upon their exportation from their name country, but during the disturbances gnawed out of the Napoleonic wars, particularly the Peninsular war, these restrictions were ineffec tive. Many bands of sheep were broken P
and sold and American buyers were not slow to take advantage of these opportunities. 'Ur were said to be 5000 Merinos in the United States by 1809. The growing of hogs in the Ohio valley became a leading industry. he 1805 fat cattle began to be driven across the Alleghanies to the Eastern markets.
The movement for the organization of 20' cultural societies began during this period Societies for agricultural improvement wen organized in South Carolina in 1784, in vania in 1785, in New York in 1791, in Massa chusetts in 1792. An exhibition of agricultural products was held in Georgetown, D. C, 1810 and another in Pittsfield, Mass., in the same year. In 1816a somewhat larger one held in Brighton, Mass. These were the fore runners of the State and county agricultural fairs which have since played a very important part in our agricultural development Period of the Conquest of the Prairie' — The third period, which we have period of the conquest of the prairies, might well have been called the period of tion. The period between 1830 and 1860 'an' nessed, on American soil, a transformation.nt farming methods such as no previous period of 30 years had even witnessed. It the period of the introduction of farm maclunen. driven by horse power. At the beginning, of this period practically every farm operation except plowing, harrowing and the drawing of carts was performed with human muscles. By the end of this period, corn was planted and cultivated, wheat and other small grains were drilled, harvested and threshed, hay was mown and lifted into the mow or on to the stack by horse power — that is, on the more progressive farms.
The first factor in this transformation, aside from the native ingenuity of the American farmer, was the opening up of the great prairies of the West. At the beginning of this period the vanguard of the great army of settlers was just emerging from the great forest which extended continuously from the Atlantic coast to the western end of Lake Erie and the Wabash River in the middle streak, and to the Mississippi and beyond on the north and on the south. These prairies, though regarded as of doubtful value by the first settlers, soon proved themselves to be more fertile than the timber lands previously settled. Besides they were smooth and comparatively level and free from stones and other obstructions. They were therefore well adapted, the use of horse drawn machinery. Ths fact, together with their seemingly boundless expanse, offered a challenge to the inventor which he was not slow to accept. The reaper, the mower, the thresher, the corn planter and the cultivator followed one another in quick succession.